”Make no useless acquaintances, learn no useless skills or subjects.” This statement is attributed to Rothchild.

In this age of high technology there is so much we can learn about almost anything and everything. There are experts in fields and specialists on subjects that should be of no interest to us.

We once knew a man who could tell you which team won every world series since they began and he had all the lifetime batting averages memorized of all those in baseball’s hall of fame. One man, while in prison, memorized the county seat of every county in every state in the union. These are good examples of learning useless subjects.

The same is true of our acquaintances. We tend to become like those with whom we associate. We need to pick carefully our friends and acquaintances. What do our friends like to talk about? What do they like to do? Is this compatible with our walk in the Truth? The kind of friends we pick tells God a great deal about us.

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. If we spend our time learning useless subjects, developing useless skills and associating with useless acquaintances, our life will be useless so far as God is concerned.

The wise man Solomon said that ”making many books there is no end;” He said this before the printing press was invented and if Solomon could visit a large library today he would certainly underline his true statement.

We need to become selective in the books we read, in the skills we develop and in the friends we cultivate. We will never know everything about anything. What is important for us to know? Paul told young Timothy that ”the holy scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation.” Is there anything more important for us to understand than God’s plan with the earth, and with us’?

The Sunday newspaper for most large cities weighs several pounds, and you would not get it all read before the next Sunday, if you read it all day long for a week. There are, of course, the six daily papers that arrive in between.

We should not want to spend our valuable time filling our minds with the volumes of stuff that bombard us every day by way of our newspapers and magazines as well all that comes to us by way of the radio and television.

We are wise to realize that so many things that the world considers important have no real lasting value yet these unimportant things consume their time and their life. It is so true that how we spend our days is how we spend our lives. We need to resolve to follow Solomon’s wise advice when he said, ”Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest.” Let us be sure that what our hand finds to do is something worth doing. We need to make sure that the world’s trivia does not consume us causing us to spend our time learning useless skills or subjects.

The Psalmist tells us that ”The Lord taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man.” We might add, nor is He impressed by our handicap in golf or our bowling average or our stamp collection or trading cards.

This being true, let us he careful how we spend our days for that is how we spend our lives. Paul gave us good advice when he said, ”See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the, time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”